Looking for a historical fiction novel...?

Question

based on the lives of either Queen Zenobia of the Palmyrene empire or Queen Boudica. I finished reading the Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret Geroge a while back and I am interested in reading more about other poweful queens such as Cleopatra. If anyone can make any recommendations it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

One I can personally recommend that I loved was MICHELLE MORAN'S NEFERTITI. Very descriptive of that period, how power changes people, etc.

Nefertiti: a novel
Michelle Moran
Author: Moran, Michelle
Raised far from the Egyptian court with her sister, Mutnodjmet, the beautiful and ambitious Nefertiti becomes the wife of the radical new pharaoh, Amunhotep, encouraging his plans to overturn Egypt's state religion and making powerful enemies in the process.

New York: Crown Publishers, 2007, 480 p.


QUEEN ZENOBIA BOOKS

Beloved
Author: Small, Bertrice
A Roman centurion rapes and kills Zenobia's Alexandrian heiress mother, and as daughter of a Bedawi warrior chief, she hates the Romans, declaring that when she becomes queen of Palmyra in the third century AD, she will free her city.

New York: Ballantine Books, copyright 1983, 464 p.
Kirkus Reviews Hyperbolically self-proclaimed as "Lust's Leading Lady," Small (Skye O'Malley, Unconquered) returns with another heavy-breathing mixture of potted history and porno-passion--this time featuring Zenobia, queen of oasis city Palmyra in the 3rd Century A.D. Daughter of a Bedawi warrior-chief and an Alexandrian heiress, Zenobia learns to hate the Romans as a child--when her mother is raped and killed by a centurion. ("'By the gods,' he grunted, "this is the best piece of **** I've ****** in months!'") Thus, when gorgeous teenager Zenobia is chosen for royal spouse-ship by Prince Odeanthus of Palmyra, she vows to help free her city from Roman occupation--even as she falls hard (but only in wish, not deed) for Roman soldier Marcus Bfitainus, who's helping Palmyra to vanquish nasty neighbors. Then, a decade or so later, Odeanthus is poisoned by a bastard son, so Zenobia takes over, determined to hand over a free city (even an empire) to her son, up-and-coming King Vaba. But, though a hot secret liaison with Marcus begins before the corpse is cold (producing a daughter), Zenobia's plans for sneakily winning independence go awry: Marcus, back in Rome, is forced to wed Emperor Aurelian's pregnant niece; Aurelian leads troops to humble the upstart Palmyrans; and Zenobia becomes the lusty Emperor's angry yet throbbingly responsive captive/mistress. ("'I hate you!' she snarled at him through gritted teeth. 'But your delicious body wants mine,' he murmured." Etc.) So finally Zenobia is dragged back in sexy shame to Rome--where she will endure degrading orgies before Aurelian falls. . . and Marcus whisks her off to new horizons in Roman Britain. Warrior-queen Zenobia isn't the most credible, likable, or modest of oldfangled, quasi-feminist Wonder Women: "Why would their son not listen to her? Because you are a woman, said the little voice in her head. It matters not that you are the greatest queen upon the earth in many centuries. . . ." And the dialogue is often more Pasadena than Palmyra. ("How would you like to spend your nights servicing every rich and randy cock in Rome?") But there's plenty of moderately hardcore copulation here--and a dollop or two of gore--for Small's paperback-palpitation following.
(Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 1983)

Zenobia
Author: Garwood, Haley Elizabeth
Franklin, KY: Writers Block, Inc., 2005, 347 p.
PART OF THE AUTHOR'S WARRIOR QUEEN SERIES...THE OTHER BOOKS ARE...
Forgotten queen, The (1997)
Swords across the Thames (1999)
Ashes of Britannia (2001)
SORRY I HAVE NO OTHER DETAIL.


Queen Boudica

Boudica: dreaming the hound
Author: Scott, Manda
As her people, the Eceni, suffer under a brutal Roman occupation, Boudica, the great Celtic warrior queen, joins forces with her half-brother, B?an, to try to unite the tribes to drive their enemies from their homeland.

New York: Delacorte Press, 2006, 432
THIRD IN THE AUTHORS BOUDICA SERIES
Dreaming the eagle (2003)
Dreaming the bull (2004)
Boudica (2006)
Dreaming the serpent-spear (2007)

Marion Zimmer Bradley's Ravens of Avalon
Author: Paxson, Diana L.
A prequel to Marion Zimmer Bradley's "The Forest House" follows the story of the Roman conquest of Britain, as a Celtic princess becomes her people's defender against brutal conquerors while her priestess mentor becomes a guardian of Druid traditions.

New York: Viking, 2007, 400 p.
Publishers Weekly Review: This stirring prequel to The Forest House, Paxson???s first collaboration with Marion Zimmer Bradley (1930???1999), is sure to please fans of the late author of The Mists of Avalon. In The Forest House, they introduced the Society of the Ravens, sons of the Druid priestesses who were raped and tortured by Britain???s Roman invaders. Now Paxson explores the events circa A.D. 60 that inspired the mythical group???s formation. Strong women surge to the forefront, most notably Druid priestess Lhiannon and her headstrong student and friend, Boudica, a Celtic princess who forgoes becoming a priestess to marry Prasutagos, High King of the Iceni. The uneasy peace with Rome shatters after Prasutagos dies, and Roman soldiers, refusing to recognize Boudica as queen, beat her and rape her daughters. Vowing vengeance, Boudica raises an army infused with the battle goddess???s magical power and strikes back at the Romans. Paxson???s bright fusion of fact and myth is a fine tribute to Bradley and the real-world triumphs and tragedy of Boudica. (Aug.) --Staff (Reviewed June 18, 2007) (Publishers Weekly, vol 254, issue 25, p40)
The most recent book in her Avalon series...
Marion Zimmer Bradley's Ancestors of Avalon (2004)
Forest house, The (1994)
Lady of Avalon (1997)
Priestess of Avalon (2001)
Mists of Avalon, The (2000)
Marion Zimmer Bradley's Ravens of Avalon (2007)

Answer 2

This one is mainly based on Queen Mary, taking place in the mid 1500's. It is Historical fiction. It is called The Queen's Fool by Phillippa Gregory. Best WIshes, A.S.

Answer 3

I don't know of novels about these specific queens, but you might like "The Fatal Crown" and "Beloved Enemies", novels by Ellen Jones about two medieval queens, the largely forgotten Queen Maud and one of the remarkable women of the era, Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Answer 4

Nefertiti by Michelle Moran

www.historicalromacewriters.com.....there you can search by:
time period
hero/heroine
character type
by series